Beehive Cake (Brown-Butter Banana Cake and Honey Buttercream)

Up until very recently my father has been a beekeeper. He had bee hives at our home in Vermont and then drove them, full of bees to Minnesota. Due to a city ordinance he was not allowed to keep bees in his Edina yard and had to set them up at a friend’s house farther out of the city. My dad would drive out on the weekends to tend to them. His love for bees was made more complicated by the fact that he is very allergic to their sting. He swells up like a balloon when stung, but this never deterred him, even though it seemed to happen with some regularity. As a result of his love for bees I have always had a fondness for them and the delicious nectar they produce. Growing up we ate the precious honey he collected on everything from homemade granola to freshly baked bread. In fact, I never knew any sweetener other than honey and maple syrup before I was about 6. Sugar, in any form, didn’t exist in our house.

This cake is a tribute to both the elegance and ingenuity of honeybees, which are in terrifying danger of disappearing. Hopefully more folks like my dad will step up and continue the tradition. The shape of this cake is based on an ancient beehive called a skep, which was made of a coiled basket. My dad’s bees were kept in a box hive, but that isn’t nearly as romantic. Under the hovering marzipan bees are layers of brown-butter banana cake, walnuts and honey scented buttercream.

Butter and flour an 8-inch cake pan and an 8-inch metal mixing bowl. Line the cake pan with a parchment paper round. Set aside.

In a small saucepan cook the butter over low heat.

until the butter is caramel colored and smells toasty.

Strain the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, sugar, honey and vanilla until it is cooled off slightly. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add the banana puree and mix until incorporated.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Alternate adding the flour mixture and buttermilk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.

Divide the batter between the cake pan and the prepared bowl.

Bake the cakes for about 40 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. The cake in the bowl may take a few more minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely.

Put a nice thick layer of buttercream over the chilled crumb coat. Starting at the top of the cake, use a Spatula and create a spiral by slowly spinning the Cake Decorating Stand and moving the spatula downward.

To create the marzipan bees: Take a small piece of the marzipan and roll it between the palms of your hands until it is lozenge shaped. You can taper one end slightly to be the back of the bee. Paint the stripes on the marzipan with a clean paintbrush or toothpick and black food coloring. Allow it to dry until it is no longer tacky.

Once the stripes are dry, press the sliced almonds into the sides to create the bees wings.

I love this. I was actually going to do a test batch of a honey buttercream for a pistachio sponge. I love, LOVE the little bee’s, and the structure for the hive is great! Not a surprise from you or the blog, but i am always blown away and inspired.

This cake is awesome (and it’s not just because of the little bees!). I am always looking for a good banana cake recipe. Can’t wait to try yours! P.S. I’m glad you went with the traditional look of the bee-hive. This cake just wouldn’t have been the same if it had been a box-hive shape

We are beginning bee keepers. What a journey and learning experience it is! My children help (we have little bee suites for them) and I think they deserve this awesome cake for all of the hard work they do helping! We are going to make it next week.

[…] As a lover (and keeper) of honeybees I loved this cake. Zoe states it’s a “tribute to both the elegance and ingenuity of honeybees.” Unlike many other baking sites, Zoe takes the time to post step-by-step instructions that make recreating her recipes a snap. Your beehive cake will has a good chance of looking just like Zoe’s cake. To see how she did it, please visit her original post by clicking this link. […]

I LOVE this post! I can completely relate to the lack of any other sweetener as we have hives too and I think im probably bordering on addicted to the honey they produce I have it in tea, porridge, on toast, and just eat it by the spoonful. ANYWAY, this recipe just looks totally wonderful and the perfect way to show off honey in all its loveliness

Love this post about the story about your father. And this cake is beautiful! What a fun way to bring awareness to the bees, and you make it look so easy too! I might have to try this one out for my birthday next month!

Cute cake. I love the light yellow color. I have watched a few shows about how the bees are disappearing. I really hope they figure something out, because I don’t think people realize how important bees are.

Zoe, I stumbled upon your site via “foodgawker”. First of all i love the ingredients in this cake and icing but it was the tribute to bees that caught my attention. I began keeping bees in March this year and have acquired 6 hives. It is the most awe-inspiring hobby. I, like your Dad absolutely “love” my bees. I name all of my queens, Miracle, Heidi, Rita, etc…. and all have a reason for their name. Silly to some but personal to me. I think I’ll just make the cake in regular pans and enjoy your lovely creation! Glad I found your site – you are a busy woman! Hope you’ll visit my blog for some interesting bee stories, photos and such!

this is the cutest cake. My mom is a bee keeper and she is flying in to visit me this thursday. I have to make her this cake. Do you know where marzipan and black food coloring can be found locally? I mean is it a regular grocery stores? I live in Baton Rouge.

Hi! Any ideas on how to make the bees nut free? I know I can figure out the cake/frosting part, but my lil guy is allergic to nuts…his first birthday theme is bees and I really love this cake idea… Thanks!

I first made the cake using regular round cake layers, which meant I had to carve the cake to the shape I wanted. Then it occurred to me that it would be easier to do it in a bowl and eliminate the carving. The shape is very similar, but as you noticed it is a slightly wider cake. You can either add another cake layer, as you suggested, or trim the sides with a serrated knife to get the angle you desire. If you have the right shaped bowl, this will not be an issue at all.

Hi, I am planning on making this lovely-looking cake tomorrow for a friend’s birthday. My problem is that I don’t keep buttermilk in the house normally, and will be leaving town next week for Thanksgiving—so I don’t want to buy buttermilk in case it goes bad while I’m gone. Is there a decent substitute you can suggest?

Zoe… Your cake is just beautiful!!! I LOVE bees, so this caught my eye rather quickly, I do have a bee hive mold pan that I recently got as a gift. I wonder how you would go about holding the two halves together??

Hi, I just stumbled onto your blog via the cake (Pinterest maybe?). I have never made a layered cake before before this one. My pans and bowl were a little wider so my cake was squatter but it still turned out pretty well. I couldn’t find marzipan in my town so I improvised by making a playdough recipe with sugar instead of salt (what can I say, I have a 19 mth old). This seems to be a fine subsitution to make the little bees. I also had to be flexible with adapting from another buttercream when my egg white wouldn’t whip because I got a little yolk in them Now I know for future meringues!
Bringing this to a Winnie the Pooh themed baby shower. Thanks for the great recipe and for making it look so easy. Never would have tried it otherwise:)

I’m not a baker at all…but I made this cake and it turned out perfectly ADORABLE!! Your instructional videos were so incredibly helpful!! I couldn’t have done it without them! My mom keeps bees as a hobby and tomorrow is her birthday. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she sees her cake. Thank you!!

Hey Zoe,
Just wanted to ask if this is the same recipe for the cake that you use on your video tutorial “splitting and filling a cake”? The cake on the video has the most perfect crumb!
thanks in advance!

Love Love Love this cake!! I’ve been keeping bees for only 3 years, and my sister-in-law showed me this recipe! can’t wait to take it for raffle to our next Sowega Beekeepers club meeting!!THANKS–and yes, everyone should have honeybees!! ;0)

There are people with nut allergies in the family. I thought about just leaving the nuts out but I wanted to try a different filling. Can I use your Vanilla Pastry Cream or is that not stiff enough for cake filling?

Made this for my daughter’s birthday this year, and shaped it into a butterfly. I got rants and raves for this cake! It seemed daunting at first, but is well worth the extra steps browning the butter and toasting the nuts. I’m making it again this weekend for my Grandmother’s birthday and am MORE than excited to have this delicious cake again!

Hi!
i made this on the weekend for my husband’s birthday (he wanted a banana cake) – but just as a tall round cake (31 is a little old for buzzy bees!). It was fantastic, rave reviews, cooked perfectly.
THANK YOU!!

I tried the cake and it smell so good making it, but was disappointed in the end result as it felt like eating a slice of banana bread with butter on it. Is there a way to use less butter but have that same smooth icing, or maybe a really good cream cheese icing? I thought the cake was great, icing was like eating honey butter.

Did you let the buttercream come to room temperature before eating it? That is the best way to serve it, but it isn’t for everyone. Problem with cream cheese icing is that it doesn’t have the body to hold up to this, it will just slump down the cake. You could do a chocolate ganache or other icing that has a bit more structure.

HI Zoe !
Ich love this cake and want to bake it for my little daughter´s honey bee birthday party.
I have one question to you… how many gramms are 1 cup of egg whites?
i live in austria and here we use gramm to do cakebaking…
best regards, melanie

I love this! My husband and I are beekeepers so your story about your father and the truths you speak about the future of honeybees truly touch my heart! Thank you for sharing!!!! The cake looks adorable and delicious!!!

I am making this cake for a baby shower and did a trial run last weekend. The instructions are very helpful and the end result was wonderful, including the bees which I made out of fondant. I did have a little trouble baking the layer in the round metal bowl. It took a lot longer than the 8″ pan and was still a little under-cooked in the middle and a little overcooked around the edges. I will be making again this week and thought I would try baking the bowl layer at 325 for an hour and then start checking. Any suggestions?

Finally trying this cake out this week for my niece’s birthday. This question is something I have been wanting to ask a pro baker for ages: when baking two pans in the oven, what is the pan placement? side by side? one on bottom rack and other on top rack? thanks!!

thanks Zoe…if you don’t mind, could I extend my previous question to inquire about cupcake pans. In the past I placed 2 sheets of cupcakes side-by-side on the middle rack and they came out burnt on the bottom. I felt that maybe the problem was that there was no proper heat distribution around the pans because, with them side-by-side, they had formed a barrier so that the heat was trapped below. And yet, I hate having to bake my cupcakes one pan at a time! In this case, can I place the (cupcake) pans on top of each other? – that is, each pan gets their own rack? thanks again Zoe :=)

Thank you for you helping me disinteretedly. In our family reverent attitude to beehive too. My sister keeps beehive. If you let one more question, how mach butter in grams I need for banana cake? Thank you Zoe! With mach reverenses Svetlana

Made this cake today as a trial run for my daughter’s bee themed birthday party. Used a Dolly Varden tin and baked for an hour. Worked really well. Tasted wonderful. Didn’t try the buttercream today as I wanted to know how you think the buttercream would work out if I was to pipe concentric circles up around the cake to give the hive look? I’ve never worked with Swiss buttercream before and wonder how it will hold up.

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I'm Zoë François and I love to bake. This is where I play with sugar and take the mystery out of baking everything from cookies to wedding cakes. I studied pastry at the CIA, worked in restaurants, write cookbooks and now you can also find my creations on the Cooking Channel, Fine Cooking Magazine, General Mills, Cooking Club Magazine and Breadin5.com. More...

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